Education commissioner hopes to rebuild trust

Randy Watson, Kansas’ new education commissioner, hopes to rebuild trust between the Legislature and school districts. That’s quite a task. “We’re just mad at each other. And so we hold press conferences and shout at each other,” he told the Topeka Capital-Journal. “I don’t know – I’d like to bring us back to a more civil discourse and see if we can move forward.” Educators are upset not only with state funding cuts but with what they perceive as attacks on the teaching profession, including the loss of due-process protections and legislative attempts to meddle in education standards and make it easier to prosecute teachers. – Phillip Brownlee